thus spake drake: iron and wine

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Monday, January 03, 2011

Ear on TV: Week of 01.03.11: Iron & Wine

Iron & Wine on Fallon (Thursday, January 6)

Late Night With Jimmy Fallon had more than its share of memorable music moments in 2010, so it should be no surprise that Fallon and the Roots are starting off 2011 in full sprint mode. Best Coast, Local Natives, Sean Lennon's The Ghost of a Saber Tooth Tiger, and Iron & Wine will all be performing this first week of the new year on Late Night.

It's been fun to watch the slow transition that Sam Beam, aka Iron & Wine, has made over the years, expanding his recordings from lo-fi beginnings to a more lush studio environment. From the plaintive whisper of The Creek Drank The Cradle (2002) to the full band sound of The Shepherd’s Dog (2007), the transformation seemed complete, but we've had to wait nearly four years for a proper follow-up to come. On Thursday, Beam and his beard will preview some of what's in store on the highly anticipated Kiss Each Other Clean (out January 25). Is it too much to ask again for a battle of the beards between Beam and Questlove?.

The rest of the lineup for the week is just as tasty, starting off with the sun-dried honey-soaked pop of UK's Best Coast. Singer/guitarist Bethany Cosentino writes hits by keeping it simple, mixing the girl group and bubblegum of the past with the fuzzed out indie production of the now for a debut (Crazy For You) that made many year-end lists. The rest of the week shapes up with another year-end list favorite in Local Natives playing Fallon Tuesday; and then Wednesday night with Sean Lennon's acoustic project with model/girlfriend Charlotte Kemp Muhl, The Ghost of a Saber Tooth Tiger.

Finally, The Black Keys also made more than a few year-end lists with their latest (and, possibly greatest) Brothers. Songs from the album seemed to be everywhere on TV and in film during 2010, and the blues rock duo have cashed in on the ubiquity with four Grammy nominations and this week's gig as musical guest on Saturday Night Live. It may be a new year, but we won't complain if we hear 2010 staple "Tighten Up" just one more time.

Picks for the week
Monday, January 3
CURRENT: Biggie and Tupac: Biggie Smalls, 2pac
CURRENT: Kurt and Courtney: Nirvana, Hole
NBC: Late Night With Jimmy Fallon: Best Coast
NBC: Last Call With Carson Daly: Off! (REPEAT)
TBS: Lopez Tonight: Rooney
Tuesday, January 4
CBS: Late Show With David Letterman: Keri Hilson
NBC: Late Night With Jimmy Fallon: Local Natives
NBC: Last Call With Carson Daly: She & Him (REPEAT)
TBS: Lopez Tonight: Sheryl Crow
TBS: Conan: Neon Trees (REPEAT)
Wednesday, January 5
ABC: Jimmy Kimmel Live: Lloyd Banks
CBS: Late Show With David Letterman: Justin Townes Earle
DOCUMENTARY: Taqwacore: The Birth of Punk Islam: The Kuminas, Omar Waqar, AL-Thawra
NBC: Late Night With Jimmy Fallon: The Ghost of a Saber Tooth Tiger
NBC: Last Call With Carson Daly: Ra Ra Riot (REPEAT)
SYNDICATION: The Ellen DeGeneres Show: Macy Gray
TBS: Conan: Deerhunter (REPEAT)
Thursday, January 6
CBS: Late Show With David Letterman:
NBC: The Tonight Show with Jay Leno: Los Lobos
NBC: Late Night With Jimmy Fallon: Iron & Wine
NBC: Last Call With Carson Daly: Matt & Kim (REPEAT)
TBS: Lopez Tonight: Orianthi
TBS: Conan: Jimmy Eat World (REPEAT)
Friday, January 7
CBS: Late Show With David Letterman: No Age
NBC: Last Call With Carson Daly: Florence & the Machine (REPEAT)
Saturday, January 8
EPIX: Bon Jovi - The Circle Tour: Live From New Jersey: Bon Jovi
NBC: Saturday Night Live: The Black Keys
PBS: Austin City Limits: Monsters of Folk

Monday, September 21, 2009

House "Broken": Housebroken... get it?

Ok Mr. Laurie, here's your Emmy.

The two-hour season premiere for House was a refreshing step outside of what was getting to be a stale template for the series. Save for a brief call to Wilson, this was a lot of heavy lifting from Hugh Laurie as House. Andre Braugher was great as Dr. Nolan (why isn't this man on television more?) and Franka Potente slummed in the role of token love interest Lydia.

A lot more music than other House episodes, and none of the usual sentimental adult alternative wallpaper they usually choose. In fact, the most boring song was the not-at-all boring "Seven Day Mile" by The Frames, which closed out the episode, signaling how far House has gone (and still needs to go).

Playlist: House - Episode 6.01
1. "No Surprises" - Radiohead
2. "Love Vigilantes" - Iron & Wine
3. "Where There's Smoke There's Fire" - Johnnie Taylor
5. "Life" - Sly & the Family Stone
6. "Macarena" - Los del Rio
7. "Seven Day Mile" - The Frames

Monday, May 18, 2009

Ear on TV: Week of May 18: Grizzly Bear (loose in my neighborhood)

Fans of Stephen Colbert are well aware of his obsessive fear of grizzly bears*, so when it was made known that Letterman had booked both Colbert and the band Grizzly Bear on the same night (Wednesday,) there were more than a few knowing chuckles.

*Oddly enough, as I'm writing this, a very hungry bear (fresh from hibernation) is running loose in my neighborhood of Ballard in Seattle. The bear is a mere 10 blocks away, which is CRAZY -- racoons or possums, sure, but a BEAR? All of a sudden, Colbert's fear no longer seems as comical.

Grizzly Bear, for their part, is set to release one of the most critically anticipated albums of the year next week, with Veckatimest, which is a stunning collection of Pet Sounds-era Beach Boys harmonies paired with folk-based arrangements. The last time they appeared on Letterman, nearly a year ago (video) they debuted the song "Two Weeks," creating quite a stir in the blogosphere.

Ok, the bear hasn't been caught yet, but is now more 20 blocks away, so my threat level has moved from a "Colbert-Red" down to "Grizzly Adams-Gray." Also, he's apparently on the small side (but still HUNGRY).

Also making an appearance this week is Iron & Wine, hitting Fallon on Tuesday, in support of the b-side and rarities collection Around the Well. It's not often that artists will tour and make appearances in support of rarity collections, but the two-CD collection from singer/songwriter Sam Beam is rich with songs that would be treasured album cuts for most artists.

Bear is still on the loose, having a field day, no doubt, with it being garbage pick-up day in the morning here. While he's dodging tranq guns, it's past 2AM and I feel like I've been hit by one, so I'll sign off now and leave the bear to my dreams.

Playlist: Picks for the week
Monday, May 18
ABC: Jimmy Kimmel Live: Franz Ferdinand (REPEAT)
CBS: Late Show With David Letterman: White Rabbits
NBC: Late Night With Jimmy Fallon: Method Man & Redman
NBC: Last Call With Carson Daly: Crystal Antlers (REPEAT)
Tuesday, May 19
ABC: Jimmy Kimmel Live: Eminem
FUEL: The Daily Habit: Mims
NBC: Late Night With Jimmy Fallon: Iron & Wine
NBC: Last Call With Carson Daly: Keane
SYNDICATION: The Ellen Degeneres Show: No Doubt
Wednesday, May 20
ABC: Jimmy Kimmel Live: No Doubt
CBS: Late Show With David Letterman: Grizzly Bear
NBC: Last Call With Carson Daly: The Airborne Toxic Event
Thursday, May 21
ABC: Jimmy Kimmel Live: Common, Busta Rhymes
FUEL: The Daily Habit: The Presets
NBC: Late Night With Jimmy Fallon: Billy Boy on Poison
NBC: Last Call With Carson Daly: The Kills
Friday, May 22
ABC: Jimmy Kimmel Live: Eminem
CBS: Late Show With David Letterman: Green Day
CBS: Late Late Show With Craig Ferguson: The Decemberists
NBC: Last Call With Carson Daly: Glasvegas
SUNDANCE: Leonard Cohen: I'm Your Man: Leonard Cohen, U2, Nick Cave, Rufus Wainwright, Martha Wainwright, Beth Orton, Jarvis Cocker, Teddy Thompson
Saturday, May 23
BBCAMERICA: The Graham Norton Show: Lily Allen
PBS: Austin City Limits: Dixie Chicks (REPEAT)

Monday, January 05, 2009

Ear on TV: Week of January 5: The Police

If there's one flaw in Sundance's music-oriented talk show Spectacle, it's that host Elvis Costello can be a little too familiar with his guests, and that's exacerbated in this week's episode, with tourmates The Police stopping by the program. At several points during the separate interviews with members Andy Summers, Stewart Copeland and Sting, there's the urge to wake them up (Summers,) put them in restraints (Copeland) and slap their smug face (Sting). But it's also a strength of the show that Costello allows there various annoyances to come to the surface in an interview with him, as they feel comfortable to be how they are backstage on tour together.

The episode was taped the night before The Police shared the stage with Elvis Costello for their last performance (apparently, forever,) making this their second-to-last performance (and last televised performance) ever. It's a small stage (the smallest they figure they've played in 30 years) but it doesn't feel very intimate. It might be due to their being two drummers, two bass players, two guitarists along with keyboards (and a lot of ego) on stage mucking up the sparse sound of The Police's and Costello's heyday.

On the other end of that spectrum is Sam Beam, aka Iron & Wine, who sounds intimate even playing to large crowds at an outdoor festival. While he's expanded the instrumentation of his recordings in recent years, it's typically just him and his acoustic guitar when he makes these appearances. Even if he does bring a band with him when he performs on The Tonight Show with Jay Leno Monday night, his delivery still feels intimate, reserving volume instead for the strength of the song he's currently playing.

Finally, the band Little Joy, who play Carson Daly on Tuesday night, is Fabrizio Moretti (drummer for The Strokes) and Rodrigo Amarante (singer/guitarist of the Brazilian band Los Hermanos). The initial idea was a project unrelated to their current bands, a quieter, sparser sound (more intimate?) but Amarante sounds an awful lot like Julian Casablancas, and so it's tempting at times to think of them as a quieter, gentler Strokes. Still, their debut, Little Joy it's more than likely the best Strokes-related album since their debut (Is This It).

Playlist: Picks for the week
Monday, January 5
CBS: Late Show With David Letterman: Glasvegas
NBC: The Tonight Show with Jay Leno: Iron & Wine
Tuesday, January 6
FUEL: The Daily Habit: Unwritten Law
IFC: The Henry Rollins Show: The Blood Brothers (REPEAT)
NBC: Last Call With Carson Daly: Little Joy
Wednesday, January 7
ABC: Jimmy Kimmel Live: Lenka
CBS: Late Show With David Letterman: Okkervil River
SUNDANCE: Spectacle: Elvis Costello With...: Elvis Costello, The Police
Thursday, January 8
NBC: The Tonight Show with Jay Leno: Lady Gaga
Friday, January 9
NBC: The Tonight Show with Jay Leno: Eagles of Death Metal
NBC: Last Call With Carson Daly: Yelle (REPEAT)
Saturday, January 10
PBS: Austin City Limits: Paolo Nutini, Grupo Fantasma (REPEAT)

Tuesday, September 25, 2007

Now Downloading: New Releases 09.25.07

I'm afraid my new release posts are getting the short end of my attention span of late, with all the writing demands that have come my way via Film.com. It's a big day for 'New Folk' and I'm going to take the (still not very) easy way out here and refer to my post yesterday on new releases from Jose Gonzalez and Devendra Banhart, while focusing here releases from Iron & Wine, Two Gallants, and the solo debut from A.A. Bondy. There's folk then just that, though, there's more traditional folk from Joni Mitchell, and AA Bondy, and the US release of (somewhat folk-y) Loney, Dear's 2006 album Sologne (entered erroneously in Rhapsody,) one of my faves from last year (#24).

Playlist: New Releases 09.25.07

Album: Iron & Wine - The Shepherd's Dog

Sam Beam has been hinting at the coming expansion of sound for Iron & Wine, with the EPs Woman King and his collaboration with Calexico, In the Reins. Both from 2005, the recordings were a few rows up from the minimal lo-fi sounds of the excellent first two albums, utilizing a whole band and new experiments with sound. The Shepherd's Dog is a fully realized album, with intricate attention to detail in how the songs fit together, and I'm always a sucker for that kind of thing. There's a richness here that Beam has shied away from, but always seemed ready to do in the near future. There's a Hammond organ here, a vibraphone there, backwards guitars, African rhythms ("House by the Sea ,") even vocal effects ("Carousel"). It would be a shocking change in less delicate hands, but Beam knows the sounds he wants you to experience, and it's a revelatory experience.

Download: "Innocent Bones" (Sub Pop)
Download: "Boy With a Coin" (Sub Pop)

Album: Two Gallants - Two Gallants

Like Liars previously, Two Gallants have curiously decided to go the self-titled route several releases into their career. Two Gallants continue their Grapes of Wrath tales of Americana, making a more focused disc then last year's somewhat disappointing What the Toll Tells. Their debut, The Throes, is still the album to get, but TG is a welcome return to the depth of that debut.

Download: "The Hand That Held Me Down" (Saddle Creek)

Album: A.A. Bondy - American Hearts

This one has been out for a month alreadIt's hard to believe this is the artists formerly known as Scott Bondy, the frontman for the rocking band Verbena. Here he takes a sort of Ryan Adams turn, or better yet, for those that remember, a Gerald Collier right-turn from his days of rocking in Best Kissers in the World. It's got a Dylan Freewheellin' vibe to it, and the album is a welcome respite from a lot of noise that's in my head right now.

Free album stream from AOL